


Watch Me Get the Gold

by AnimaterDream



Category: Free!
Genre: 2012 Summer Olympics, 2016 Summer Olympics, Alternate Universe - Olympics, Butt Slapping, Fluff, Fluffy Ending, Friendship, Fun, Gen, Love/Hate, Olympics, Race, Racing, Rio olympics, Showers, Swimming, gold medal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-11
Updated: 2016-08-11
Packaged: 2018-08-08 01:46:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7738663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnimaterDream/pseuds/AnimaterDream
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Haruka and Rin were Olympic swimmers, fierce competitors, and friends. Four years ago Rin took the gold away from Haru, and now Haru wants to take it back. The swimmers had trained harder than ever and watched each other with an almost intimate fervor. Now it's time to race to see who will win gold.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Watch Me Get the Gold

     The tension was thick in the air. All of the swimmers were getting tense as it got closer to the two-hundred meter freestyle race. It was the night of the finals and for two of the elite athletes it was something more. It was the culmination of four years of intense training and carefully watching each other to see how they could get better themselves.

     Haruka Nanase, a well decorated olympic freestyle swimmer, has made it back to the 2016 Rio Olympics; competing for Japan. Haruka began swimming when he was young, and now at twenty-six he was ready to perform once again. He had won Olympic gold medals as well as world gold before. Haru was a fierce competitor and his loss in 2012 at London wasn’t going to suffice. Rin Matsuoka was competing for Australia, at the age of twenty-four, was almost as decorated as Haruka. He also swam freestyle and was the reason of a 4 year long rivalry.

_      It was 2012, in London, and it was the last fifty meters of the finals; it was obvious it was going to be a tight race. Haru was in the lead by six-tenths of a second, but he couldn’t get his arm out. So close. Rin stretched and his fingertips hit the wall at the same time as Haru. Everything went silent. The cameras were playing it back to see who had touched first. As the gold medal was being determined everyone seemed to have gone silent, even the small crying children had ceased their noises. The pool rippled around the athletes as they sat silently in the water, their skin pruning. A voice came over the speaker, “After the video review it had been determined that the gold medal winner is Rin Matsuoka representing Australia.” Rin began splashing around in excitement. Haru shook hands as expected before getting out of the pool and leaving the area. _

     The four year rivalry was an extensive period where each competitor racked up as many medals and awards as possible. Each man training his body to try to get to his peak performance. Despite not competing since London both swimmers knew each other so well it was almost intimate.

     As they stood, waiting to get on their platforms, everything was eerily quiet and sinister. Rin wanting desperately to hold on to his position while Haru wished to rip it away and lay claim to it once more. Both men longed to dominate each other and the competition. Both knew it was to be a race for the record books. The signal was given to get ready and the men quickly stepped on their platforms. When the announcer said to get set everyone became poised and ready to pounce. The race was signaled to start and they were off. Like lightning they were in the water and sliding through its folds as the water tried pulling; clinging to their bodies in a futile attempt. The men’s grace was undeniable even as they were swimming acting as if their lives depended on it.

     Haru was quick to start with Rin on his tail. Haru was like a dolphin in the water as he glided quickly through it. His turn seemed effortless and he pushed hard, surging towards the other end of the large pool. One-hundred meters done and Haru was still in the lead staying ahead thanks to  his swiftness. The water seeming to separate in front of the beautiful dolphin.

     Rin was not as elegant as Haru but by far more fierce and lethal. He was the shark to Haru’s dolphin. He glided as smoothly and his turns were just as sharp, yet the way he swam was more fierce and precise lacking Haru’s fluidity. Rin was constantly threatening Haru’s lead but never getting past him. As they were approaching the one-hundred and fifty meter turn everything was normal until  _ it wasn’t _ . Rin slipped, barley, but sharks only swim forward and Rin’s turn faltered causing him to fall behind.

     Har surged forward as Rin lagged behind him greatly. Rin swam faster as to try and close the gap, to gain back the lost distance, but his attempt was futile. Rin’s hand touched the wall after Haru and he surged upward throwing his head back in defeat. Not only had Haru won gold Rin hadn’t even medaled. Haru swam over and they hugged, their wet bodies coming together causing the water to ripple.

     Rin had been ravaged by defeat and was disappointed in himself. He quickly grabbed his things and headed to the showers, just wanting to get dressed and go back to his room to wallow in his misery. He would have been happy getting silver, but he couldn’t even get himself that honor.

     Haru was ecstatic when he knew he had won. He got out of the water after hugging Rin and ran over to hug all of his teammates before heading to the showers as well. He had looked for Rin, after getting away from his team, in order to thank him for being such a fierce competitor. He got to the showers and spotted Rin’s bag on one of the benches. Haru set his own bag down before getting out of his swimsuit and stepping into the steaming shower room. It appeared that he and Rin were the only ones occupying the showers. 

     Rin was equally as naked, yet Haru payed no mind and walked over. He tapped Rin on the shoulder and smiled while Rin just turned around and glared.

     “What do you want Nanase?” Rin quipped.

     “I came to thank you for the challenge,” Haru explained, his hands steady on his hips despite Rin’s clear anger.

     “Yeah, well I suppose it’s clear who’s better.”

     Haru sighed and shook his head before grabbing Rin’s chin and forcing him to look up at him. “You still have plenty of time to beat me again, I’m not going into retirement this soon and neither are you,” He states sounding fiercely determined. ”Be here in four years and we’ll try this whole thing again.”

     Rin cracked a toothy smile at that. The two had raced and competed for years and to hear that their battling would continue gave him hope. Rin always looked up to Haru as a friend and a competitor. It seemed that Rin wished for Haru’s praise; needed it to have a reason to get stronger and the same was for Haru. Rin actually trained with Haru in Japan for a time when they were younger, yet Rin went to Australia in order to get better. The two would always carry that connection from when they trained together though.

     Haru waved a hand in front of Rin’s face to get him to come back to reality. Rin smiled and hugged Haru in promise that he would return. They both smiled and Haru walked away in order to take his own shower. Rin was done so he left, slapping Haru across the butt. "I’ll see you again in four years and then I will win!” Rin called out as he left the showers, already trying to figure out how to make himself stronger for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guy's enjoyed this short story. If any of you have been watching the Rio Olympics you probably know this was based off of Michael Phelps and Chad Le Clos. Go Phelps! I am planning to do a series of Olympic themed stories as the Olympics continue so comment below if there is a certain sport or fandom you want me to adapt. Enjoy the Olympics!


End file.
